The Hindu Business Line : Info network to be set up for farmers

THE Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IITM-K) and the Farm Information Bureau under the State Agriculture Department are close to signing a memorandum of understanding for setting up the Karshaka Information Systems Services and Networking (KISSAN), an information network intended to empower the farmers and guide farming operations in the State.

KISSAN will be responsible for the aggregation and dissemination of the relevant and updated information to farmers, scientists and policymakers on a range of subjects including production, technology, processing, marketing, trade, quality control, weather and supply of inputs through resort to different network technologies like satellite based broadcasting and internet to be coordinated by IIITM-K, according to the Agriculture Minister, Ms K. R. Gowri.

The data, audio and video information will be made available to each farmer through cable TV networks as well as through kiosks to be set up in Krishi Bhavans, the Minister told newspersons at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club here.

Giving a background to the development, the Minister said the State Government had appointed a High-level Committee on Biotechnology and IT under the overall leadership of Dr Chopra, the former Chairman of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), to advise it on how to deal with seasonal afflictions set off by pests and other agents in the farms, the use of bio control methods, use of tissue culture for developing disease-resistant and highly productive seeds and saplings, and the instruments for disseminating such information among the farming community.

As the next step in this direction, separate subcommittees on biotechnology and IT were set up respectively under the tutelage of Dr Chopra and well-known technocrat and IT entrepreneur Mr K.P.P. Nambiar. While the Dr Chopra subcommittee was busy giving the finishing touches to its report, the Nambiar subcommittee had already submitted its report. KISSAN is a project proposed by the Nambiar subcommittee.

KISSAN is expected to empower the farmers in the State by making them competitive to cope with the tough demands engendered by an increasingly integrated and quality-conscious global market.

Among the farmer-friendly information to be made available through the network is locally relevant information

Including guidance relating to specific crops, inputs on soil and fertility, expert advice on imponderables faced by farmers, information on best agricultural practices, latest trends in agricultural product prices and information on agricultural credit.

The content would be made available in the local language (Malayalam) and presented in a lucid manner with interactive video facility.

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